This afternoon the women’s basketball program engaged in a rematch against Medicine Hat College. After losing last night, Briercrest looked to split with the Rattlers, while MHC pushed for a sweep. Both teams executed well last night and showed up with strong defensive intensity, both pursuing similar starts today.

Briercrest took the lead early in the first. Tracy Frimpong with a quick three in the beginning minutes built momentum that fed into their defensive pressure. Lauren Janzen and Marisa Hartman coming off the bench and contributing on both ends of the floor extended the lead to 16-6 halfway through the quarter. However, after a timeout to refocus and some free throws, Medicine Hat battled back, finishing with a much closer score of 16-12 going into the second.

The second quarter saw a much more resilient Rattlers team. A quick surge of easy buckets gained Medicine Hat the lead, along with missed shot opportunities on the Briercrest end. Briercrest stayed competitive though, applying a man-to-man half-court defense that forced turnovers from the quick moving Tattler offense. Briercrest fell victim to a physical style of play late in the second, resulting in a score of 29-22 for Medicine Hat.

Briercrest came into the third quarter refocused after the break. They brought back the defensive intensity and with Brooke Olmstead penetrating and scoring consistently, as well as Frimpong being more of an aggressive scorer Briercrest cut into the Rattler lead. Medicine Hat got into foul trouble early on, allowing for Briercrest to capitalize on the free throw line. The Rattler offense though proved to be more disciplined therefore the two teams headed into the fourth with a score of 51-38.

In the fourth quarter Briercrest started with a full-court man-to-man press, disallowing any transition points or easy jump shots. Nicole Chenard started some offensive heat with an early three-point shot, followed by a strong rebounding game from Amy Wanvig gave way to a dominant Briercrest team. Abbigail Klassen substituting in for Olmstead did a good job of distributing the ball, getting easy buckets for her teammates on the back of Krista Weins’ defensive stops. Medicine Hat maintained their discipline and composure and kept a ten point lead midway through the quarter. The latter half of the fourth saw a few more missed shots than the first on Briercrest’s side, and with the Rattlers’ ability to capitalize they extended their lead. However, Briercrest put forth a valiant effort in the final two minutes, pushing the ball and finishing well. The final score for this afternoon’s match was 68-56.

Briercrest shot extremely well from the free throw line today with an 82%, also they shot 5 more three point shots.

Players of the game were Kennedy Werre for MHC and Brooke Olmstead for Briercrest. Olmstead had a game high nine rebounds, and a team high three assists, a block and two steals to go with 11 points. Krista Wiens also had a team high three assists, and Tracy Frimpong had a team high 12 points.

Briercrest outrebounded Medicine Hat 41-38 and had two block to Medicine Hat’s one. Medicine Hat had the edge in assists 18-10 and steals 18-10.

Next weekend, Briercrest heads into a bye, having two weeks to prepare for the following match up against Red Deer College hosted at the Margaret P. Reimer Memorial Gymnasium.

If you can’t make it to the next game be sure to watch online at acac.tv.

For up to date information on the Briercrest basketball team, “like” the Briercrest Basketball facebook page.